John Laird will not run for state Senate

September 14, 2011

John Laird announced today that he will not run for the State Senate in 2012.

“This was not an easy decision to make,” Laird said in a press release. “Serving the Central Coast in the State Assembly was one of the greatest honors and pleasures in my life.

“With the partisan gerrymander of the 15th Senate District about to end, voters in the new Central Coast Senate District will have the chance to elect a senator who will understand and reflect their concerns for quality public education, strong environmental protection, rebuilding our economy with green jobs and ending the gridlock in Sacramento.

“In January, I was called upon by Governor Brown to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency. I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the people of California alongside the many hard working professionals who serve in the departments, commissions, boards and conservancies that make up the Natural Resources Agency.

“Together we are making a profound difference in protecting and restoring the state’s natural resources, and there is much to do. It is a challenge I cannot walk away from right now given the difficult times we face in California.

“I want to thank all those who urged me to run. I look forward to many more years of public service.”

79 Comments

Who cares what you think of Ed, did you get anything from the clip of regarding the hate spewed from the extreme right? You claim that you guys aren’t full of hate that it’s the left that are the haters. If Perry and the cons get their way Perry will be selling tickets and popcorn to the Tea Bags for next execution. I’ve never seen such hate and lack of compassion, it’s pathetic but none of you see it, it’s like you’re brain washed. Reminds me of the J. McCarthy days,,Commies around every corner. Hateful cold people.

There is little difference between the Bush/Cheney and the Obama administration.

Oh, wait. The Obama administration is WORSE than the Bush/Cheney administration.

From using 9/11 to terrorize the American people into sheep-like compliance to the stripping away of our constitutional rights to the unending, generation-slaughtering Middle Eaast wars, if anything, Obama has made things far WORSE than they were under Bush/Cheney.

I’m a lifelong Democrat and political activist, strong union supporter, and voted for, contributed to, and volunteered for Obama in 2008.

But anything you can accuse Bush/Cheney of, Obama is just as guilty–if not more.

The “commies” are the same kind of mythical boogeyman used to terrorize the American people into doing what their government told them to do as the al Queda/Osama bin Ladin/ Kadaffi boogeyman the Bush/Cheney/Obama administration is using now to terrorize us into doing what they want.

Those three cheap dimestore hoods, dressed up in the trappings of the American presidency, have destroyed our country.

The voters have lost complete control of the politicians we elect, who have blatantly, for at 15 years, ignored the campaign promises they made once they were elected, and have ignored our attempts to contact them with our concerns about the direction of our country and our anger over their bait-and-switch tactics.

John Laird’s decision to forego running for the California State Senate in 2012 will be a great loss to District residents.

However, Governor Brown’s selection of Laird as Secretary of California’s Natural Resources Agency will allow Senator Laird to continue helping to positively and proactively impact California’s transition to a future of sustainable use of our natural resources.

When I consider John Laird’s background and history of accomplishments, the key concepts are:
• PROACTIVE PLANNING, and
• ACCOUNTABILITY.

Both key concepts are vitally important to the sustainable use of our natural resources.
• By proactively planning for a future where there will be more Californians seeking to use less (and more expensive) resources, Laird has given us an important window of opportunity to make changes in our behavior and in our homes which will allow us to more easily use less resources in the future.
• By holding all users of natural resources accountable for what they consume, the rate they consume it, and any damage they do to the sources of our natural resources, Laird promotes a more even sharing of the burden of maintaining natural resources for the future.

As a State Assembly representative, John Laird was a champion for water conservation and water quality in our state. He was not only the driving force behind making water use efficiency a priority for California water purveyors and water customers, he was the rare politician willing to stand up to the very powerful agriculture interests to begin the process of holding them accountable for their water use efficiency.

Water use efficiency is the key to sustainability–on all levels–of California. Without the dedicated bravery of Laird or someone like him, there would already be far more damage to our groundwater supply than there is now. Laird was the one who took on the special interests who resisted being held accountable for the water their projects and businesses required. In his two most important water conservation bills, AB

Water users and those who profit from their use of water, without a good reason to do so, would not have magically made the shift to making real efforts to increase the efficiency of their water use. For water sellers, this means investing in education and outreach efforts to help their customers investing in water conservation outreach and education activities.

Laird and his tireless efforts to prepare Californians for the reality of higher water rates, which are a result of our limited water supplies, provided the incentive to water sellers to proactively put in motion measures that will help their customers prepare for a future of rapidly increasing water costs.

Water agencies are now helping their customers start making the switch in thinking towards water efficiency now, before water prices skyrocket. Without Laird’s efforts to legislate water conservation requirements, homeowners might have found themselves facing steep increases in water rates without the benefit of having time beforehand during which they could make changes towards a more water-efficient landscape.

Instead, water sellers have had time to educate their customers to the alternatives to unrealistic landscaping choices for our arid California weather. This has given homeowners time to gradually make the transition to a more sustainable, water-efficient landscape, at a rate that is easier on their home budgets.

I will miss knowing that John Laird is working in the legislature to help Californians do what they can to use our natural resources in a sustainable way. However, I also look forward to knowing he will be working on our behalf in the State Natural Resource Agency where, no doubt, his focus will continue to be on proactive planning and accountability.

———————–

The following are just a few of the bills Laird sponsored while in the California State Assembly.

AB715, Approved 2007. Calls for a gradual-percentage-of-sales ramp up to 100% of all toilets and urinals to be high-efficiency models. This set the stage for water conservation professionals across the state to start campaigning for high-efficiency toilets/urinals in local ordinances. An example is the Nipomo Mesa requirement for high-efficiency toilet refit at the time of sale of a single-family residence. This was a joint project by the Nipomo CSD and SLO County Planning, and is a fine example of cooperation between local entities to achieve a common goal.

AB739, Chaptered 10/13/2007. Basically, the important issues this bill addresses are formalizing the grant funding selection process, accountability for the way granted funds are spent, and accountability for the effectiveness of the project for which the grants were funded. AB739 requires the California State Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop the process of evaluation and selection guidelines for parceling out of funds for projects that have applied for funding grants for two bond acts passed in 2006: one for disaster preparedness and flood prevention, and the other for safe drinking water, water quality and supply.

AB740, Chaptered 10/10/2007. This bill addresses the problem of invasive species being transported into California water ways. It holds accountable those who control boats/vessels for ballast water management and keeping vessels clean of invasive species. This bill also requires the person in charge of the vessel to collect specific information regarding the vessel and its ballast water management, including any dry-docking and cleaning operations, and then to make that information available to the State Lands Commission.

AB1058, Inactive 5/28/2008. AB1058 would require the Department of Housing and
Community Development (DHCD) in coordination with other entities, by 7/1/2008, to develop green building standards (Best Management Practices) for residential homes, and submit them to the Building Standards Commission for review, adoption, approval, and publication. The bill is currently inactive.

AB1066, Inactive 7/3/2007. Planning for sea level rise. AB1066 would require the development of plans and technical advice and processes for dealing with the documented sea level rise, which is anticipated to have a significant impact on California. The bill calls for the development of these plans to be accomplished by the cooperation between state, federal, regional, local, Native American, military, and other parties with interests in the impact of sea rise on California. Resource protection agencies would be involved in planning for the impact of sea rise on California coast and bays.

AB675: Chaptered 10/14/2007. State coordination of water use by water purveyors’ customers and agriculture, and State’s response to five-year assessments of water consumption. This bill laid the groundwork for the suite of water-conservation and water-use-accountability bills that followed. AB675 also lays out the specifics of how agriculture water users (which are not getting their water from a water agency that specifically meters the water use; i.e., drawing water from their own wells) must document the amount of water they are pulling from the underlying groundwater basin.

AB2175: Inactive 12/4/2008. This far-reaching bill would require water-use efficiency guidelines and landscaping BMPs to be part of residential development plans before building permit would be issued; would also require methodology by which the efficiency of water use by agriculture users could be quantified.; would require a 20% reduction in urban water use (measured by gallons-per-capita-per-day, or GPCD). It was later replaced by three separate bills.

AB2763: Chaptered 9/29/2008 Advance planning, detection and eradication plans for invasive pests. .
ABX22: Inactive 12/3/2008.
This bill would declare the intent of the legislature’s intent to invest state funding in programs and projects that improve the state’s water supply reliability and promote certain principles.

AB3: Chaptered 12/3/2008. This bill declares the intent of the Legislature to review and adopt a comprehensive strategy to resolve the issues of water supply reliability, ecosystem restoration, water quality, and levee system integrity in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

AB1420: Chaptered 10/13/2007 This bill links a water purveyor’s ability to get state funding (grants, etc.) to their performance on their water conservation plans as stated in their Urban Water Management Plan updates. This is a big-time change, and really forced boards of directors and administrators of water purveyors to get serious about water conservation.

AB2270: Inactive 8/4/2008. This bill encourages wastewater treatment facilities to implement the use of appropriately treated (recycled) wastewater. This bill also provides to wastewater treatment facilities the right to take action regarding the salinity of the inflow into the facility, including limiting the type of water softeners being used by the purveyors’ water customers.

AB2532: Inactive 8/18/2008. Establishes a comprehensive plan for the management of marine-life resources, and utilizes fishery management plans as the primary basis for managing the state’s sport and commercial ocean fisheries.

AB2921: Chaptered 9/28/2008. Holds landowners accountable for material breaches of contract in violation of their contracts under the Williamson Act to maintain their property as open use or agricultural land. Over the years, the State Department of Conservation (which manages the contracts) has had to deal with instances of landowners and local officials permitting development projects on Williamson Act contracted land that amounted to material breaches of the terms of the contract terms. Five years ago, the Legislature (under AB1492) created procedures for the DOC to identify and respond to material breaches of Williamson Act contracts. AB2921 makes changes to those procedures as experienced by the DOC over the last five years. In addition, the State can now demand reimbursement of its costs for addressing material breach-of-contract cases

Desalination plants on the coast could solve all our water shortage problems, water for AG use, drinking water, lush green lawns, lower the the sea levels for those of you that buy into the global warming hype, and real toilets. plenty of water out there, like oil and gas we just need to go get it.

Typo
I don’t drink the Kool-Aid from any political party, I,m a constitutionalist, small government, limited regulation. You libs think were all going to die if we don’t drink the Kool Aid from the enviromental terrorist. Everything we hear from the left, are nothing but scare tactics reguarding the enviroment, designed to force us into thinking that nothing is sustainable without government intervention.

It’s basic commonsense mixed with science,,,how wait you guys don’t believe in science and you certainly seem to lack commensense. To think that oil and water are never ending resources is just ignorant. You are a prime example of why we need govt. intervention, it’s people like you that are distroying this planet.

You cons are calling yourselves all kinds of things these days, tea party, independent, constitiutionalist, all key words for right wing extremists.

Wake up and turn off the AM talk radio. There is no magic bullet for the centuries of harm humans have done to the planet.

Desal is fraught with problems. One of the biggest one is the croneyism between our politicians and the desal companies who have repeatedly proven to FAIL at constructing plants that work.

I’m not saying that it is not one of the possible ways to deal with the effects of generations of thoughtless overconsumption and fouling of our water resources, but it is one of the solutions that creates as many problems as it solves.

“communist party”!!! Are you fracking NUTS? THAT’s the boogeyman you are afraid of?

Did you know that the very influential GWBush advisor, the propaganda whore who pimped the “compassionate conservative” jingoism into GWBush’s mantra, was a marxist, devotee of Lenin philosophy, and a card-carrying communist and leader of the California Communist Party? (Media Transparency, http://tinyurl.com/3zwdsaj)

That was until Ronald Reagan started testing the waters for his presidential candidacy; specifically, Reagan’s handlers’ plans to woo religious right voters into voting for Reagan, by making deals with their leaders (Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are the two most notable Reagan front men) to use their pulpits to promote Reagan as a grandpa-god image.

(By the way, Pat Robertson is obviously a “commie,” too, because he has had extensive business relationships with the “commies” in China. Oh, so has Rupert Murdoch, so FoxNews and all of Murdoch’s stealth propaganda mills also are “commie.”)

At that point, Olasky found Jesus (perhaps under his dog-eared copy of Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto”) and started pumping out the Christ-based justifications for the goals of American rightwing politics and, eventually, for the goals of America’s neocon movement.

Olasky’s “The Tragedy of American Compassion” is the book that caught the attention of rightwing/religious-right luminaries (and Mach V hypocrites) William Bennett and Newt Gingrich. In this book Olasky blamed the 1960s for America’s problems, and advocated government-funded welfare be placed in the hands of religious groups. With Gingrich’s congressional influence, this anti-Constitutional dogma spread throughout the conservatives in Congress.

Predictably, Olasky’s dogma became the source of GWBush’s assault on the Constitution in his “faith-based services” government funding of private religious groups, first as governor of Texas and then as POTUS..

Indeed, as MediaTransparency notes in its biography page of Olasky, opening line: “Marvin Olasky stands as one of the first major intellectual successes in the American conservative movement, a man whose views on welfare were codified into law in the late 20th century.” (http://tinyurl.com/3zwdsaj)

Of more concern, Olasky, while teaching at the University of Texas, became one of the puppets of Christian Reconstructionist (CR) money-bags Howard Ahmanson, Jr. With the financial backing of Ahmanson and the rightwing “philanthropy” groups he helps fund, such as the Bradley Foundation, Olasky was soon spewing out Christian Reconstructionist “worldview” doctrine. CR advocates the stealth infiltration of government and influential private groups, by training people in the CR dogma and then placing them in positions where they can influence opinion and government policy. CR is very influential in the homeschooling movement, and no doubt there are CR programmed homeschoolers, all grown up now, and working in government agencies to change America to their CR worldview.

GWBush was so influenced by Olasky that he actually “wrote” an introduction to Olasky’s book, “Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, What it Does, and How it Can Transform America,” published in 2000.

Olasky also has a fellowship at the Acton Institute. This group works to promote the “biblical worldview”; in other words, inserting the doctrine of the Bible into every aspect of our lives, including our government. That includes the Old Testament, too and, in case you haven’t read the Old Testament lately, it is NOT for sissies. In the CR biblical worldview, we would not need prisons because crimes would only be handled in two ways: either it is so heinous the person must (according to Old Testament doctrine) be executed, or the criminal must serve as a slave to the person or persons he/she “harmed” by their actions.

The Old Testament calls for execution of women who marry without intact hymens, rebellious teenagers, and homosexuals.

So if you are concerned about “commies,” you better start focusing on the Republican Party, because it is filled with “commies” and “commie lovers.” Indeed, as we’ve seen, one of its very influential policy makers, Marvin Olasky, was a “commie” and was welcomed with open arms to the GOP and American rightwing political groups, anyway.

Based on what you just posted, I seriously doubt Mr. Laird will have the ability to say it like it is about the absolute squandering of MY tax money regarding the epic failure of Obama’s poster child called Solyndra. Everyone……. prepare for the spin machine to start spooling up….I can’t wait for the excuses. Just like an indulgent parent who rationalizes the behavior of a black sheep child….LET THE GAMES BEGIN. Thank you for the ideologue post..I am pleased that you showed your colors…Others hide it, and I respect that you did not do so…

In addition, it was under the watch of Bush/Cheney that the corrupt banking industry nearly destroyed world economies. Without bailouts, I believe by now–especially with Obama’s inept leadership–we would be living in anarchy.

Too bad the green industries don’t have the Bush/Cheney connections to get them bailouts, too.

Also, too bad there are people who trash the green industries. Obviously, they don’t realize that part of China’s huge financial growth was because it swooped in and was the first out of the gate to gear up for the production of green industry products.

With a little more voter support, those jobs could be here in America.

TRANSLATED: “I get paid way more being head of the Resources Agency, and I don’t need your stinkin’ vote because my buddy Brown appointed me. My term doesn’t end until Brown’s does. Then I might run again.”

I’m sure that Mr.Laird will do well on his newly appointed job. Mr. Laird is a bright man as well as an ethical good person. There are a certain group of people that will not only disagree but HATE him simply because he ran for office as a Dem. It’s the same group that hated Obama and vowed to fight and disagree with him on every issue,,,even without knowing what the issues are about.

I don’t hate him because he is a democrat. I don’t hate him at all, nor do almost ALL conservatives. HATE… is reserved to the owners of the corner market claimed by the progressives. That corner is called TOLERANCE….Progressives are the most hateful and intolerant people I know…If we don’t agree with one, we are called names…racist, xeno’s, homophobes, you name it…That is the mantra of communism…Yell it loud and often and it will change and bend the will of those who don’t agree with you..

I actually wish him well. I hope he can uncover the truth behind the failure of Solyndra, and I hope he has the will (aka stones) to say it like it is regarding their failure. I hope he will make us understand why the private investors who rolled the capitalist dice by throwing money at the company, will receive their money before we, the taxpayers do.

I want him to say the truth about poor choices by big government about “investing in our green future” with a company who squandered 1.5 billion in short order with no product to show for it.

Yes, keep him there. If he really is ethical like you say, he won’t dodge the truth, and won’t repeat the progressive mantra with regurgitated pap about the epic failure of venture capitalism that went bad.

Hey, sometimes it happens…But it shouldn’t happen with my tax money being blown on a green dream. We will never ever see that money back…Kiss it adios…..

” I don’t hate him at all, nor do almost ALL conservatives. HATE… is reserved to the owners of the corner market claimed by the progressives. That corner is called TOLERANCE….Progressives are the most hateful and intolerant people I know…”

Oh that’s rich. I will never forget hearing all those Tea Bags cheering when Perry bragged about his state executing a record number of people. These radio jocks are a perfect example of the hate shared amoung the right:

I’m letting you people enjoy your glee over that green company going under. You thrive when the left makes a mistakes, it’s not like you care about the people that get hurt, you’re just glad that you can say ‘see, green is bad’. As I’ve said, not only are you people full fo hate for libs but you also hate the environment. Say what you want, actions speak louder than words

QUOTING TYPOQUEEN:
“I will never forget hearing all those Tea Bags cheering when Perry bragged about his state executing a record number of people.”

I will never forget Governor Rick “Loud-Mouth” Perry stating he was going to withdraw Texas from the United States because it would do better on its own.

I–and many others–said, “Go right ahead, we can use a buffer from the horrific drug-cartel violence flooding across our southern international border! I hope y’all speak Spanish pretty well; the Oaxacan dialect can be difficult, but you’ll just have to learn it if you want to survive in the new Texas annex of the Mexican Drug State.”

I guess someone told him what an idiot he was making of himself, because he soon quit boasting about that.

Then he started bleating about “welfare states,” how poorly California was doing, etc. etc. Come to find out, Perry had been lying about the real Texas economy figures, and it was doing as bad, if not worse, than California was.

The difference is that California, unlike Texas, isn’t making it’s Republican ruling cronies rich at the cost of vital services–such as firefighters.

So now Perry is begging California to send some of the firefighters WE pay for with OUR taxes.

So when I read the Perry-ites posting here on the board, I just consider them more of the loud-mouthed, swaggering, all-bluster-no-substance blowhards like Perry.

azuresees says: “HATE… is reserved to the owners of the corner market claimed by the progressives. That corner is called TOLERANCE.
Yell it loud and often and it will change and bend the will of those who don’t agree with you..”

You are the one bringing HATE into the conversation, yelling in fact. So how long have you been hating your fellow Americans? If you treat your fellow citizens like this it’s no wonder the word xenophobe comes up.

While American fight among themselves the communists profit and expand there economic power.
Mantras are unnecessary when they have as many dollars as they do.
From Nixon to the Bush clan, our present is the harvest of hard work, decades of working with the commies.

I think it would take someone ignorant of Laird’s many accomplishments while in the state legislature to make such ignorant comments about him.

I don’t like to think that there are people who will HATE such a fine man as John Laird just because of his political affiliation, but, at least in this case, on this message board, it seems to be the truth.

“Many Chinese credit the Bush administration’s free-trade policies with helping the Chinese economy blossom over the last eight years. They appreciate its efforts to rein in the fiery anti-Beijing rhetoric of former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian. And Bush’s attendance of the opening ceremony of last summer’s Olympics, at a time when many world leaders were urging a boycott because of China’s human rights record, is viewed with deep gratitude.

In fact, China’s appreciation of Bush is part of an unlikely romance between the Republican Party and the Chinese Communist Party that dates to President Nixon’s historic visit in 1972.”

John Laird is one of the most ignorant human beings that I have ever come across. Everything that comes out of his mouth is either wrong or an out and out lie to further his eco political agenda. All one has to do is check out his rhetoric to find the flaws and lies in what he is saying. If it was up to Laird we would all be living in caves without the benefit of fire.

One example is right in front of you in this article. “…rebuilding our economy with green jobs…”. The people of California really dodged a bullet if this idiot is true to his word and really doesn’t run (but I won’t hold my breath).

Thing is no one wants to talk about why they (Solyndra) failed.
Factions are just making noise as a warm up to 2012.

Pay attention, Chinese solar panels are flooding the north america market driving down panel prices. Many producers will close or move overseas.
There will be many American jobs lost while the employed Americans enjoy the cheap imports.
Again

SLORider that is a surprisingly ignorant thing for you to say. Every day in our little county people go to work doing your so called green jobs with green products. Contractors with more work these days, helping people reduce energy usage and saving hard cash.

Perhaps you didn’t notice because we look just like regular people.
More of us every day spending green money from green jobs in local stores, typing on our local internet.

Ah! Are you referring to manually picking crops? That is a good example of a green job. I think we, as a society, will have to go back to a more agrarian lifestyle. We’ll need *something* to do, since there is no manufacturing and service industry cannot survive serving the other service industries, ultimately.

“Ah! Are you referring to manually picking crops? ”
No I’m not, your confused and mislead if you think this.

None of the people I know with green jobs “work in the fields” unless you are referring to how we convert expensive to operate (PG&E) well pumps to more efficient solar power?
More efficient and if sized right can pay off in under 5 years, in some cases less.

I like the way you Googled those jobs, that’s very cool. Many good green businesses. But hey I’m going to let them rant about this ONE green business that had financial problems, they’re going to feed on this and use if for everything they can. I’ll let them have their fun.

For every green job created there are 2.2 jobs lost in the conventional energy sector.
If it’s really. Getting rid of the Natural Resources would bring more jobs to California than all these pie in the sky mandates.. Open up oil drilling off the coast and see how many good paying jobs will be added immediately. I, for one, am more interested in saving the economic strength of our state than pushing forward with an agenda, based upon bad science, that moves more and more business out of California.

Would not his proof be the constant closure or relocation of businesses out of California? Could not our exceedingly high unemployment numbers show there has been massive job losses? (even with the “worked on” government figures?)

“Proof or it never happened” is a bit sophomoric at best. Perhaps a “nya-nya-nee-nya-nya” would be better for you?

Get your head out of the Heritage Foundation website (and the websites of its front groups).

Part of China’s economical and job growth was because the Chinese government recognized the birth of a new industry, and rushed in to be one of the first to take advantage of the new products and supplies that would be needed.

yes, please provide some examples. I am not familiar with the man, and while I can utilize search engines, it would be nice if people who have a negative opinion of someone provide the examples. Makes for a stronger argument, and helps me be lazy… win-win!

You, Madam have lost all creditability with this asinine. I am no fan of Rick Perry but to fault any governor for requesting reinforcements for an environmental disaster of this proportions is idiotic. I, for one do not need the poster boy for the communist party (Laird) telling me what kind of toilet I have to use. People like you that support Laird just proves my point.

It is the failure of Texas’ leadership that placed it where it is now.

What they aren’t talking about in those fires is this: in many areas they would not be able to access water to fight the fires because the Texas leadership has allowed farmers, developers and industries to overdraw the aquifers, leading to aquifer collapse.

Farmers were already, in record number, abandoning their farms because of lack of rain and inability to access water to irrigate the crops.

Texas’ management of its vegetation stinks, too. They treat trees like they were worthless when, in fact, trees and other vegetation provide the transpiration and serve as windbreaks, providing surface area on every leaf and twig to collect humidity from the air.

Texas has also, for at least two governorships, cut back services to the people so they could continue to feed taxpayer money to their fat-cat corporate industry backers.

Did you know about 85% of firefighters in the areas impacted by the wildfires are volunteer firefighters? Many pay for their own equipment.